Sea of the Soul
by SeraphOmega
Summary: The story never ended with the sealing of Nyx, and the wheels have continued to turn. Three years after the end of the first guest's journey, a new journey has began. Everything is connected in some ways, so long as the sea of the soul continues changing with the seasons. [AU] (On Hiatus)
1. Inaba

And suddenly, I lose my mind and make a Persona fanfic. For the record, this is set around the time in Persona 4 where Yukiko is rescued, but before Kanji get abducted.

*Grins* Let's see how this goes, shall we? Enjoy~

* * *

It was an average cloudy day, and as the sun got higher into the sky people came out of their homes to begin their days. Inaba was a quiet little town, where everyone knew everyone. There wasn't much to do, but the people who grew up in the quaint town always found something to entertain themselves.

This story begins with the arrival of a train in the early hours of the afternoon. A single passenger stepped onto the platform wearing a set of headphones and moving with a tired shuffle. He shook his head to move his long blue hair out of his face, and gazed at his new home with half-opened gray eyes.

He wore a long sleeve white shirt with black slacks, and carried the gray jacket he brought over his shoulder. His expression was gloomy as he looked around the station, but as the man's head cleared, a wide grin spread across his face.

He let loose a wide yawn, then pulled a cell phone from his pocket. He dialed a number, then waited a few seconds until he heard a female voice say "Hello, who is this?"

He chuckled a bit, saying "Did you forget my number, Fuuka? I'm heartbroken." The man hadn't contacted most of his old dormmates from high school in the last three years, so it wasn't really a surprise to him that she hadn't kept his number.

"Oh, Minato! It's been so long! So Mitsuru was talking about you when she told me to expect a surprise? Agh, I had no idea!" She sounded flustered, so he said "No worries, it was a last minute kind of thing. Could you let me know where your address is? I'll meet you after work, maybe?"

Fuuka Yamagishi, his girlfriend from high school, had moved to Inaba directly after graduating 2 years ago. Minato had lost contact with her, though he made sure to get updates from another close friend of his, Mitsuru Kirijo.

"Oh, uh . . . sure! I, uh, I'll see ya then!" She sounded distracted, and Minato could hear the clanging of metal in the background. "Gotta go, break time's over! I'll text the address!" she told him, then hung up. A few seconds later, Minato's phone buzzed with a new message.

He sighed with disappointment; guess he'd have to walk all the way downtown . . . Her address was somewhere in the shopping district, and that was a full hour and a half away.

"Ah, well," he said aloud, putting the navy blue jacket on and hefting his bag over his shoulder, "complaining won't do me any good. Time to walk."

This town really was a great place, Minato reflected, as he walked alongside the road into town. On his right was a steep hill that led to a large river, which sparkled in the sunlight. There were children playing in a grassy field on his left, and their carefree cries of joy put a smile on his face. _Not much cheerfulness like that overseas, or in Iwatodai for that matter,_ he thought to himself.

At least he managed to stay in regular contact with Junpei and Mitsuru, though he kept all of his friend's phone numbers. No one else besides those two had so much as texted him in the last few years, but Minato wasn't sad about it.

Why would he be, when he practically deserted them after the incident . . .

He shook his head abruptly, refusing to dwell on past mistakes. Out loud, he told himself "Get a grip. This is a new town, a new life. Make new memories."

* * *

He arrived in town after about an hour of walking, surprised to see how deserted the streets were. He hadn't expected only 5 people to be around the shopping district, regardless of how 'country' the town was perceived as.

He stopped next to what looked like a ramen shop and walked in, immediately bombarded by the smell of spices and octopus. His stomach growled and he thought _Eh, why not. Fuuka has a few more hours of work, and I haven't eaten since breakfast yesterday . . ._

He sat down on a barstool and, in record time, a young blue-haired girl asked in a dull voice "What can I get you?"

She looked gloomy and seemed to want to be anywhere else, but her posture showed that she was pretty strong for her age. Minato said "How about just a large beef bowl?", and she told him "Coming right up," before disappearing into the back.

Once again, he was reminded of old memories as he sat on the stool, breaking the chopsticks apart and digging into his meal. He and Junpei had frequently gone out for ramen runs, as had Hidetoshi, Rio, and a number of other friends of his.

Feeling even more nostalgic than before, he quickly finished his meal and paid the gloomy girl before exiting the ramen shop. He followed the instructions Fuuka texted to him until he arrived at a decent sized house across the street from a tofu shop. He didn't have a key to get in, but knowing Fuuka, she would probably keep a spare somewhere . . .

After a few minutes of searching, he found a spare key inside a pot next to the front door and let himself inside the house. It was about the same as he expected; it was moderately clean with some food cans and bowls next to a table piled with damaged and warped metals. He took the time to tidy up the dirty dishes and laughed to himself at the trashcan filled with failed 'creations' that she had cooked. _Same old, same old, eh?_

Once he finished the dishes, he checked his phone to see that he had another text; this time from Junpei. -**G****rats on your college degree, I heard you moved down to Inaba. Gonna hook up with Fuuka again? ;D**- He texted back -**'Course I will, though thats not all I'm doing here. Wouldn't have made it through college without Mitsuru's help, though. Helping Fuuka out with chores atm, I'll ttyl**-, then put his phone away after seeing he still had an hour until Fuuka got off work.

After making sure the living room was tidy, he sat on the couch and rested his head against the comfy leather, reminiscing again. This time, the memory was of him and Fuuka sitting on the old dorm couch, just talking about random things to pass the time.

Either he sat on the couch for longer than he thought or just thinking of her summoned her, but the door creaked open and Fuuka called out "I'm home, you here Minato?"

He sat up, saying "Yup, over here. Good to see you again," he added with a smile and a hug. She laughed, teasingly asking "What's this? Has 'Moody Minato' finally crawled out of his shell?" He released her and observed as she moved around the house, commenting on his job in the kitchen; she had definitely changed from the shy girl back in Gekkoukan.

She moved around the house with an energetic attitude that he had rarely seen before, moving into the kitchen to help as she cooked some simple ramen. Her once-fumbling actions have given way to confidence in every stride she made.

Her aquamarine hair had grown longer, and Fuuka had put it into a braid at some point in the last couple years. At the moment, she wore a light blue poncho over a black turtleneck sweater and a blue skirt, both of which were dusty from working all day.

As they cooked, he asked "So how's work? Sounded hectic over the phone." She sighed, stopping what she was doing for a moment to rub the side of her face with a hand as she said "Deidara's working me pretty hard. I got into metalsmithing recently, and we've been having a good amount of customers. Collectors, martial artist, and - oddly enough - a specific group of high schoolers."

He raised an eyebrow, asking "High schoolers? How could you tell?" She glanced sideways at him before stating "because they had the Yasogami High uniforms," as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. He coughed in awkwardness, changing the subject to "So what do you make, anyways? Not much you can make with metal, other than weapons."

She nodded, setting up the table in the living room as she said "Yeah, weapons and armor. We get some pretty interesting materials, as well as interesting customers. Come on, let's eat!" He laughed before sitting down at the little table, enjoying some ramen as he listened to Fuuka animatedly describe her days.

She had shown him a spare bedroom he could use, but he slyly wriggled his eyebrows in a suggestive way while asking "Couldn't we share your bed, like old times . . ?" Her cheeks colored, and she stammered out "Oh, no. You don't get to disappear for three years, and suddenly everything's fine. You gotta earn it again, mister."

He snapped his fingers, muttering "Drat" with a slight smirk on his face. "Oh well, had to give it a try. See you in the morning, Fuuka." He put his bag in the bland room, seeing the small television, the bookcase with several books on it, and a futon lying in the corner.

He pulled a few things from his bag, setting them on the bookcase for the night, and paused when he pulled out the long orange hand-knit scarf that he always carried around with him. This brought back even more memories.

_Minako . . ._ She had given the scarf to him one winter morning, laughing as she had wrapped it around his neck. She told him it was a personal project of hers, and that 'You're going to wear that whenever you get cold, and you will be damn pleased when you do! You got that?'

He frowned slightly, resting the scarf next to the futon before laying down in the mat. _Tomorrow, gotta let the Yasogami staff know I'm here. Maybe I can start working soon, get to know my way around town._

His mind set on his goals for the next day, he drifted off to sleep, awaiting the first day of his new life.

* * *

A/N: I've never been all that good with introduction chapters, so do tell me if I can improve on some things. My style is to tease out details and be as vague as freaking possible, so don't worry about what looks like detached thoughts here and there.

Cheers~


	2. Moro-wha?

**The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed . . .  
Only by falling from the grace of the Gods can one truly begin to ascend . . .**

* * *

Minato, upon feeling himself wake up, felt something warm and heavy on top of his chest. He reached up with his arm, feeling around for whatever it could be, and was rewarded with a face full of slobber and a low pitched bark.

"Agh! Koro, you were here too?!" Minato yelled in surprise, rolling off the bed and landing awkwardly on his back. The white furred beast, Koromaru, managed to stay on the bed, and pawed at the blankets that pooled around Minato's feet.

As if the fates felt like being especially cruel this morning, he heard Fuuka's voice worriedly say "I heard banging around up here, is everything okay?" seconds before opening the door. Minato groaned in embarassment; he had stripped down to his blue polkadot boxers the night before, and he was half off the bed with Koromaru mussing up the blankets and mattress.

Fuuka laughed before saying "He was on his nightly walk while you were here. Must've came in during the night and said hello to his friend. Isn't that right, Koro-chan?" She added in a childish way, making the dog bark at her and rush out of the room.

Minato sighed, before letting out a slight chuckle and saying "Alright, alright. Shoo; I have to get dressed." He paused, before teasingly saying "Unless you just don't mind me walking around like this . . ." with a wink.

Fuuka faked thinking about it before shutting the door behind her and saying "Breakfast's on the table. I gotta go to work now, so don't take too long," before heading back toward the living room.

* * *

Fully dressed, in an uncomfortable dark-blue suit with a white tie that he continually adjusted, he walked up toward the high school in anticipation for his first teaching job. He passed several other students as they walked to school, and received several odd looks from them. Despite being 21 years old, he still looked like he was at most 19 years old.

He arrived at the school grounds to see an odd sight; an unkempt teacher in a messy purple suit yelling at two girls with an obnoxious voice. His voice was loud enough to carry all the way across the parking lot, and Minato caught the end of the tirade: "You damn tramps better not be planning on skipping classes anymore! I've already contacted your parents to tell them how you keep ditching with your 'boyfriends', and they were **very** disappointed in your actions!"

Minato grimaced; he wanted to stay out of this guy's line of fire, for sure. He walked right past the group, stopping suddenly as the old man yelled out "Hey, you! You're out of uniform, you little brat! What are you doing breaking the rules? Huh?!"

Minato reluctantly turned around to meet the man's gaze, saying "I'm applying for a job here, sir. I'm not a student." The man sneered, saying "Yeah, right, and I'm the Japanese Calvin Klein. **Get to class, you little shitheads!**" he yelled to everyone around, since a group had started to form.

As soon as everyone cleared away in a hurry, the man walked over to Minato and told him "You seem too young to be applying for a job here, and the way you're dressed makes it seem like you're trying to get a job as a teacher. If you're being serious, then good luck dealing with the troublemakers here. God knows I've had my fair share of ingrates in my classes." He muttered the last part to himself as he walked into the school building, and Minato stood still in sheer confusion.

_The hell just happened . . ?_ Shaking his head, he walked into the building and saw that, despite the . . . brash man's rant, the students continued on like normal, as if it were an everyday occurrence here. He looked around, lost, and found a girl next to the shoe lockers that seemed smart.

She was quiet and ignoring the gossip flying from student to student, and she wore an altered version of the school uniform; it was colored completely red, and the skirt was slightly longer than mandatory. She had long black hair, and didn't seem to have any gaudy makeup on.

"Uh, hello miss, I'm looking for the administration office. Could you tell me how to get there?" Minato politely asked, to which the girl said "Sure. It's on the first floor; take a right, go all the way down the hall." After thanking her, he headed to the offices to finalize whatever needed to be done.

* * *

The process was surprisingly relaxed; he showed his credentials, he expressed that he was able to work as soon as possible, and the principal - an elderly man, though his eyes still shined with knowledge - allowed him to be a temporary assistant to a 'Kinshiro Morooka'.

Sadly enough, the teacher was nowhere to be found when he slid open the door leading to the classroom. He did notice the helpful girl from before, as well as one of the girls the old man was lecturing this morning; she had a green jacket tied around her waist, the normal Yasogami High uniform, and she was animatedly talking to the helpful girl, as well as two boys that seemed to stick out from the rest of the students.

His observations were cut short like a skipping record player as the man's voice from this morning sounded out like a dozen violins being molested by an octopus:

"Did I say you shitkickers could talk?! Shut your traps, siddown, and pay attention!" 'Lo and behold, the man from before strutted in the classroom, only to stop and stare at Minato and say "You! What're **you** doing here?!"

Minato cleared his throat and said in as professional a tone as he could manage "I'm your new assistant, starting today. They're finding a class that I could teach." The man, Mr. Morooka apparently, hummed thoughtfully before saying "Fine, fine, do whatever you feel like. Just remember that I'm the teacher. Now introduce yourself, and make it snappy!"

He nodded before walking toward the board, writing his name in chalk and telling everyone "My name is Mr. Arisato, and I'll be helping out around here until someone needs me elsewhere." Morooka nodded, then said "Well, go sit by the wall and watch how it's done for the day. Tomorrow, I expect you to bust your ass helpin' me out. We agreed?"

Minato nodded, then went over to lean by the wall. The day passed relatively quickly, interspersed with loud and intrusive lectures by Morooka. More than once, Minato had caught several students stifling groans as Morooka got started on one of his lectures.

* * *

After school, Morooka quickly vacated the classroom while several of the students remained inside, talking with friends or catching up on notes. In particular, Minato focused his attention on the group of four he noticed when he walked in.

From the attendance sheets, he discovered they were named Yukiko Amagi - the helpful girl from before, dressed in red -, Chie Satonaka - the girl with a green jacket tied around her waist, who was being scolded by Morooka that morning -, Yosuke Hanamura - who, in Minato's opinion, was strikingly similar to Junpei in that he frequently slacked off and fell asleep during class -, and Yu Narukami - a quiet guy who apparently transferred from the city a couple months back.

Now, away from the oppressive aura of Morooka, they chatted with each other and made plans for the day. Minato had taken care of a phone call from Mitsuru - asking if he made it without incident, how Fuuka was, if he was enjoying Inaba; usual pleasantries, to which he responded with enthusiasm -, and was about to leave before the girl named Chie called him over.

"What's up?" Minato asked, a slight smile on his face. Chie asked "I was wondering; how are you about to be a teacher here when you're so young? You **can't** be older than 19, tops!" Minato laughed and said "Guess again. I'm 21, about to be 22."

The kid called Yosuke said "Daaaaamn, so young? None of our teachers are younger than 30, I swear! How'd you stand going to school so quickly after getting out?" Minato shrugged, saying "Better to get college over with while you're still in that 'school' mindframe, yea? Plus, I had a lot of friends in high school. It wasn't so bad."

Minato checked his phone, seeing a new message from Fuuka, and said "Damn, the missus is wondering where I am. See you guys tomorrow." Yosuke let his torso fall onto his desk, muttering "Dang, he even has a girlfriend? It's not fair . . ." Minato laughed, then left the classroom in high spirits.

On the way out of school, he was stopped by Morooka, who said "Meet me in the lounge. Got something to ask ya, just to see if we'll be able to work together." Minato nodded, bracing for another lecture.

He was surprised, however, when Morooka asked in a relatively calm voice "What's your opinion on teens nowadays? You think they're prepared for the real world?"

Minato carefully said "With the right friends and influences, they have a better chance. More and more kids are breaking the rules and putting other people at risk, though. What's your opinion?" He had a feeling he knew, but once again he was surprised.

Morooka sighed, saying "They aren't ready until they make their own mistakes, regardless of how well off they are. You can show a horse where the water is, but they have to decide whether to drink up or die of thirst."

He shook his head, getting back into his earlier personality by saying "Well, whatever. Let's stop the bad mood, and get home. Don't be out after curfew, ya got it?" Minato nodded, and they both left to go home.

* * *

Minato opened the door to Fuuka's house and, with a groan, stumbled inside, kicked his shoes off, then thumped his head against the wall. Fuuka, who was eating sushi in the living room, asked "Rough day?" Minato shook his head and said "Just a long one. Morooka's an odd one, though I think I can work with him without too many problems."

Fuuka grimaced and said "Ooh, you got King Moron. Lots of students hate the man, and from the stories behind the name, I can see why." Minato chuckled and said "Believe me, half of them are exaggerated. He's just . . . enthusiastic about his beliefs, is all."

Minato lifted his head from the wall and stared at the sushi. "I don't suppose there's more, is there . . ?" Fuuka slightly grinned and said "What do you think? Go check the counter." Minato dramatically exhaled, saying "Thank you . . ." with some fake sniffles.

Fuuka scoffed, saying "Knock it off. You don't fake cry very well," then squeaked with surprise when Minato flopped down beside her on the couch. "I may not fake cry very well, but I know how to treat my lady right . . ." he said with a saucy wink.

Fuuka rolled her eyes, stabbed one of her sushi pieces with her chopsticks, then shoved it in Minato's mouth while saying "Shut up and eat, Casanova . . ."

* * *

A/N: And another chapter down! The little part in bold at the beginning is like my version of a Nyx monologue (You know, the statements he makes about the Arcana as he shifts?)

Bonus points to anyone who can guess what each one is, since i'm doing them homemade xD


End file.
